Draw (Gentry Boys #1)(8)

I rooted around in my purse and found a comb. As I sorted through the tangles in my hair I tried not to listen to the tinkling sound of a stranger peeing. The woman didn’t look at me when she emerged. She washed her hands and exited, leaving a five dollar bill on the cracked vanity. I almost chased after her to return it. I wanted to tell her I wasn’t hopeless. I was a goddam college graduate with an adequate body and a novel in progress which somehow was going to amount to something. Convenience store charity was wasted on someone with my prospects. Yeah, I almost said all that.

Then I changed my mind and used the five to buy a cherry Icee and a bag of Doritos. It was a good meal.

While my car was filling up I called Brayden again.

“Jesus, Bray,” I said to his voicemail, somewhat exasperated that he was the only twenty two year old in the world who didn’t stay connected at all times. “Anyway, I’m slightly less fragile than I was the last time I left you a ponderous message. But I’m still on my way with the handful of things I could carry in the trunk of my half dead vehicle. It is midnight now and I can see the lights of the nuclear power plant. Know what that means? It means I’ll be in Tempe in a little over an hour. Christ, I need a shower. I hope you’re not out of town or something because I have no other friends here and if you’re not around I’ll have to find a nice Walmart parking lot to cozy up in until morning. Love you, man.”

The Phoenix metro area is huge. Perhaps not Los Angeles kind of huge, but still. You’ve got to drive an awful long time to get from end to end. After gliding forever through the west valley, I saw the towering structures of downtown Phoenix and then, finally, the fringes of the east side.

I had already plugged Brayden’s address into my phone and as I passed the bold outline of Sun Devil Stadium I knew I was getting close. Arizona State University was a shining beacon of liberty to Emblem kids.

The area surrounding ASU always has been and probably always will be a circus of apartments and fast food dives. As I drove hesitantly through the Palm Desert complex it looked like Mardi Gras. People hung off balconies and meandered about in lurching, intoxicated glory. I poked my head out of the car window and called out to a quartet of blondes.

“Hey, do any of you know where apartment 2163 is?”

“BWAHAHAHAHA!” they responded and then one of them bent over and vomited into an oleander bush.

“Thanks,” I waved. “Thanks a lot!”

You’d think an apartment complex roughly the size of the city of Buffalo might have a map posted somewhere. But if it existed then I couldn’t find it. Nor could I clearly read any of the building numbers as I rolled passed and squinted. Finally I gave up, parking the Civic in a far flung corner which looked as good a place to start as any. In an act of sheer futility I called Brayden again. Of course he didn’t answer. Of course.

Warily I watched a pair of hulking men prowling around, drunk out of their gourd. I wasn’t eager to risk being manhandled so close on the heels of the Devin encounter. After fumbling around in my backseat I found a dark hooded sweatshirt and pulled it on. Though it was easily ninety degrees outside, I was aiming to look like a tough guy who might be up to no good in the dark. It might keep the creepers away. I tucked my hair under the hood and hunched my shoulders as I started to make my way through the maze of dwellings.

After about five minutes of aimless wandering I concluded it was duly impossible for anyone to find anything in this labyrinth of stucco and suntanned inebriation. I sank against the nearest wall with a dejected sigh. When I looked up I saw the numbers 2163.

My Hallelujah moment was, however, short lived when I banged on the door for a solid ten minutes and no one answered. I leaned my head against the door, feeling every bit of energy drain away.

“Don’t cry, Saylor,” I soothed myself. I hated to cry. “Don’t do it.”

After several moments of blank staring in which the meaning of the universe eluded me, I decided I should try to break in As I peered into the dim living room I glimpsed several framed pictures of Brayden and Millie so I knew for sure this was their place. I yanked on the window frame. Brayden was the forgetful sort. He might have left it unlocked. I yanked harder.

I expected the window might be locked after all. I did not expect to be abruptly tackled to the ground by a mountain. It was all too reminiscent of Devin’s attack. Even as I landed on the sharp gravel I let out a raging shriek and kicked out with all my might.

“Shit,” swore the mountain in disbelief, “you’re a girl.”

I felt myself being pulled up by strong arms attached to a body. And my, what a body. It had a chest with something tattooed in Latin across the muscled expanse. It also had shoulders with more ink which were glued to strong arms. “Are you okay?” it asked me and I nodded mutely, staring at the eruption of maleness which I could appreciate even in my trying circumstances. Then I blinked in disbelief when I saw that the body also had a face. It was one I recognized.

“Out of the frying pan and into the fire,” I muttered, shaking my head. I crossed my arms and looked him in the eye. “Cord Gentry. What the hell are you doing here?”





CHAPTER FOUR


CORD



I heard a scuffling noise underneath me and was cheered by the idea that Brayden might be home. There was something wholesome about hanging around Bray and Millie, his girl. Sometimes I got to feeling a little disconnected from the wider world apart from my brothers.